John Fitzalan, 3rd Lord of Clun and Oswestry (1200–1240) was a Norman nobleman in the
Welsh Marches in the county of
Shropshire
Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...
.
Family
John succeeded his brother,
William Fitz Alan, 2nd Lord of Oswestry and Clun, who died in 1215 without issue. They were sons of
William Fitz Alan, 1st Lord of Oswestry and Clun (died c. 1210) and a daughter of
Hugh de Lacy, name unknown; The FitzAlans were descendants of
Alan fitzFlaad, a
Breton.
Royal conflicts
He was one of the feudal
baron
Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...
s who became a target for the anger of
King John of England, whose forces attacked
Oswestry town and burned it in 1216. John FitzAlan was close to
Llywelyn ap Iorwerth until 1217.
He was also a representative of the Crown in a dispute between
King Henry III of England and the
Welsh leader,
Llywelyn the Great
Llywelyn ab Iorwerth (, – 11 April 1240), also known as Llywelyn the Great (, ; ), was a medieval Welsh ruler. He succeeded his uncle, Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd, as King of Gwynedd in 1195. By a combination of war and diplomacy, he dominate ...
in 1226. In the same year he mediated between a neighbour,
William Pantulf (died 1233), Lord of
Wem in
Shropshire
Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...
and
Madog ap Gruffydd (died 1236), Lord of
Powys
Powys ( , ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It borders Gwynedd, Denbighshire, and Wrexham County Borough, Wrexham to the north; the English Ceremonial counties of England, ceremo ...
and a cousin to
Llywelyn ap Iorwerth.
In 1233/4 during the conflict between King Henry III, the
Earl Marshal, and Llywelyn the Great, John FitzAlan sided firmly with the Crown and Oswestry was again attacked, this time by Welsh forces.
Marriage and issue
He married
Isabel d'Aubigny, daughter of
William d'Aubigny, 3rd Earl of Arundel and
Mabel of Chester, and they were parents of:
*
John Fitzalan, Lord of Clun & Oswestry, and
Arundel, whose grandson became
Earl of Arundel
Earl of Arundel is a title of nobility in England, and one of the oldest extant in the English peerage. It is currently held by the Duke of Norfolk, and it is used (along with the earldom of Surrey) by his heir apparent as a courtesy title ...
.
[Cokayne (1926) vol. v., p. 392]
Notes
References
* Dictionary of National Biography, Volumes 1-20, 22. Page 103
* Weis, Frederick Lewis, ''Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700'' p. 149-28.
* D.C. Roberts ''Some Aspects of the History of the Lordship of Oswestry'', Thesis in the
National Library of Wales.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzalan, John, Of Clun And Oswestry
1200 births
1240 deaths
John
People from Oswestry